Rece Davis, the host of ESPN’s College GameDay show, minced no words when talking about the implications of Michigan’s game Saturday night against Wisconsin.

“I think it’s gargantuan,” Davis said Friday morning. “I think their entire season hinges upon this game. They haven’t won these types of games with Harbaugh being here.”

Davis, who is in town with GameDay for the show’s first trip to Ann Arbor since Michigan’s loss to Michigan State in 2015, explained that he’s not saying Michigan will have to change coaches with a loss. He believes this game is key in the context of whether Michigan is a national contender — or a team that is still rebuilding.

“They have to win this game if they’re going to take the next step,” Davis said. “If they are legit and aspiring to be at Ohio State's level, then they win this game. You can dance around it all you want, but that's where we are.”

According to Davis, there are plenty of reasons for why Michigan has been unable to win the proverbial big game. (He did acknowledge the Wolverines beating then-No. 8 Wisconsin in 2016.)

Davis says the Wolverines have been missing “explosive play” at quarterback. He also thinks Michigan has been the victim of bad luck, citing the team’s loss to Michigan State in 2015 on a botched punt to end the game and the “tough call” in 2016 at Ohio State that granted the Buckeyes a crucial — and heavily disputed — first-down conversion.

“I don’t think they haven’t won these games because of a mental block or whatever, but it can weigh on your confidence and make you start pressing when you’ve lost several of them,” Davis said. “That’s the reward for winning big games, is that the next one is even bigger.”

Michigan's Shea Patterson runs for a first down against Maryland during the second half Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.(Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

Davis had plenty of praise for quarterback Shea Patterson, calling him a “dynamic playmaker.”

“You talk to a lot of guys that went against him in the SEC, and he scared them all the time, but when he really scared them was when the play got off schedule,” Davis said. “He’s pretty good like that. And that’s something, candidly, that Michigan hasn’t had — Denard Robinson, I guess — but certainly they haven’t had it in the Harbaugh era.”

Davis also gave his reasoning for why College GameDay picked Michigan-Wisconsin this week, and not LSU-Georgia — which he says would’ve been the destination had LSU not lost to Florida last week.

“I think what we try to do on the show is cast a pretty wide net,” Davis said. “This game is a little bit of a playoff eliminator for both. So certainly it’s not a Big Ten eliminator for either, since both have lost in the non-conference. But I think that there was a feel that you have this game, you’re probably going to have other opportunities with LSU and Georgia as you go forward — and you might have other opportunities with Michigan and Wisconsin, too — but we looked at it and felt that it was the right place to be this week.”